13 Min Read • From Beirut
The Harbor That Made and Unmade Beirut
Tracing the evolution of the port from a key economic player to the epicenter of a city's deepest trauma.
By Anna Illing
August 4, 2026
1895 - the port of Beirut was modernized. 125 years later, on August 4th 2020, a storage of ammonium nitrate in a port warehouse caused a deadly blast, killing 218 people, injuring about 7,000, displacing some 300,000. On the sixth anniversary of what is considered one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history, the investigations on the exact dynamics of the event are still ongoing.
Just as the city, the port of Beirut has an ancient history, which was more recently redesigned by technological innovation, colonisation and war. As the port was expanded and modernised from the 19th century onwards, in parallel the city grew, becoming the economic center of the country.
The Ottoman Period
"When they opened the first basin, the land was the property of the «Compagnie du port, des quais et des entrepôts de Beyrouth» [Beirut Port, Docks, and Warehouses Company]", explains Christine Babikian Assaf, professor, historian, Honorary Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities at Saint Joseph University in Beirut. Behind this company are the The Beirut-Damascus Road Company and the Ottoman Bank - two private companies financed and controlled by France. "It was normal for an Ampire lacking capital and know-how to give out concessions to private entities, the port of Beirut is just one of many examples", she continues. On the other side, "the administrators in Paris saw the port as an investment that would benefit them as well. It was also part of the strategy to uphold the narrative that France was «bringing civilization» to Lebanon".
The company obtained the concession to build, manage and operate the port for 60 years. Crucially, this concession was exclusive, which translates into exclusive right to collect duties on ships, cargo and passengers. Not too long after, in 1890, the company also secured the exclusive right to handle cargo, and provide warehousing services. In 1892, the concession period was extended from 60 to 99 years. At first, the local administrators and the company were not on the best terms. "There were many problems. Most importantly, the company didn't pay taxes on its profits and relied on foreign workforce for maintenance, instead of the locals. Moreover, as these problems arose, the French were discussing with Istanbul, not Beirut - which was merely a Vilayet [province] at the time", professor Assaf continues.
Indeed, the company was exonerated from taxes while simultaneously it was reclaiming ground in the sea. This would be a recurring issue, which will continue to come up intermittently in the decades to come. In 1895, an agreement was signed between the Company and the governor of Beirut, requiring the company to employ porters from the Beirut guild for cargo handling. But these tensions were not longlives, she argues, "soon it was clear that trade was developing thanks to the modern, quick and efficient port. So they adapted to the new reality".
The French Mandate
On September 1st 1920, the State of Greater Lebanon was declared, under French Mandate. After some negotiations in Paris, the Company reinstalled its status and its original concession, becoming now a French company. Only a few changes are made, including a four-year extension of the concession period - that is up to 103 years, until 1990 - to compensate for the four years during which the Company didn't exert its rights on the port.
As in the 1930s the port of Haifa was gaining importance in maritime trade and becoming a competitor for the port of Beirut. "Lebanese traders were worried, never before was the crucial role of port of Beirut been challenged", adds professor Assaf. In fact, Assaf emphasizes, as the Company had control on all the ports in Lebanon, it never modernised other ports, for instance that of Tripoli, to avoid competition. And beyond Lebanese borders, she notes, "Beirut could count on the know-how of the porters and its advantageous natural conditions. The sea in front of Beirut is very deep, with no sand and only light currents".
Faced with this rivalry, the French intervened and unilaterally decided that Company had to build a second basin. "The Company was reluctant to proceed and expand as it was facing great financial difficulties. But France intervened and granted a loan: only 25% of the estimated cost of the work would fall on the Company. The port was now a strategic political and economic issue", states professor Assaf. And so the second Basin of the port was built.
In 1934, the port exploded. "Inflamable material was stocked side by side with everything else", professor Assaf details. "It is as a direct consequence of this incident that the Company built an additional stocking deposit for more dangerous material".
As the Second World War broke out, the port was contested between various military authorities who sought the logistical strategic advantage of controlling this gateway. In 1941, the Allies and the French Liberation Army arrived in Beirut and placed the Company's assets under sequestration. It was now the Franco-British Ports Commission who took over the management of the port, with the objective to improve the port's infrastructure for war efforts. When the war ended, in 1945, the seizure was lifted. The Company would now be negotiating with the Lebanese state, whose independence was declared just two years prior, in 1943.
A Lebanese Port
The port of Beirut benefits dramatically from the boycott imposed by Arab countries on the port of Haifa in 1948, following the Israeli Declaration of Independence. The Company had started foreseeing expansion work to accommodate this increased traffic, but with hesitation. In fact, the question of whether concessionary companies, including the Company should not be nationalised, had started heating political debates.
It is 1955 when discussions between the government and the Company on the future of its concession begin, and the Company is facing both increased competition from other Arab ports under development - among others, Alexandria, Egypt, and Aqaba, Jordan - and a tense regional and local situation - the Suez Canal's nationalization in 1956 and the 1958 civil war. It will take five years, until 1960, to reach an agreement, which will dissolve the Company, splitting it into two new ones. The first, the «Compagnie de gestion et d'exploitation du port de Beyrouth» [The Beirut Port Management and Operations Company], will manage the port on behalf of the government for 30 years. It would receive a 5% management fee - exempt from taxes - and it would split the revenues equally with the government. The second, «Sociéte financière et immobilière du port» [The Port Finance and Real Estate Company], would hold the company's private assets.
Despite this new structure, the modernisation of the port was not a solved issue, and the construction of new facilities - including a third and fourth basin - was slowed down by the long administrative process and the half-way solutions it would tend to resort to.
On the 14th of April 1975, a 15-year-long civil war broke out, a war that tore the country apart, accounting for an estimated 120,000 deaths and an estimated 1 million displaced. In this context, "the port was one of the first places to be looted", says professors Assef. "It didn't necessarily represent a strategic advantage, as trade towards Beirut was almost completely interrupted, but it did represent a space where to stock munitions and basic goods", she continues.
In 1990 the civil war ended with the Ta'f Agreement, and the newly installed government resumed management of the port as the concession had come to its expiration day. The port needed a lot of renovation work to keep up with the transformations that occurred in the meantime in maritime trade. So, in 2005 a new container terminal was built, together with the acquisition of new and more modern equipment. Two new private companies were in charge of the port management - the Beirut Container Terminal Consortium until 2022 and subsequently to the Compagnie maritime d'affrètement - Compagnie générale maritime, commonly known as CMA CGM - a French shipping and logistics company. Thanks to this modernisation, beginning in the 2010s, Beirut established itself as an efficient major maritime route.
Some More Recent History
Then, in October 2019, the country was hit by an economic and financial crisis which, according to the World Bank, is the hardest the country has ever experienced. With banks unable to meet withdrawal demands, Lebanon defaulted on its government debt - around 155% of GDP in 2019 - as the currency, the Lebanese lira, was devalued by over 98% in comparison to the dollar. With it the price of all goods rose, and in 2020 the inflation rate reached 50%. For the port, this translated into a fall of almost half in twenty foot equivalent units [TEU - a unit of cargo capacity] handled in March 2020.
August 4th 2020 came. The port explodes, but, professor Assef says "the container terminal was not hit, and it is the most important one". On August 10th, just a few days after the blast, the container terminal reopened. Still, in November 2020, the number of containers handled decreased by 42.2% in the same period of 2019.
The most recent statistics show that both in terms of cargo in general and containers more specifically, port traffic has begun to recover. In October 2025, Beirut handled 42.1% more TEU compared to the same month of 2024; and in February 2026 34.07% more cargo reached its port compared to the previous year.
The course of justice to understand what happened six years ago and the future project to rebuild and modernise the port are still open questions. But a city which was built around its port will keep surviving in its function.